Is beer's 'edgy' name really a slur against women?

GRAND RAPIDS — State attorneys, seeking to prevent a court injunction that would allow Flying Dog Brewery to sell its Raging Bitch beer despite the lack of a license, equate a proposed label carrying the profanity as nearly equal to using the “n”-word to blacks.

“As words go, ‘bitch’ may be just about as close to the ‘n’-word as descriptors for women get,” Assistant Attorney General Donald McGehee wrote in court records. “But Flying Dog wants Michigan’s public, including its children, to see this label in grocery stores.”

Gender and racial equality advocates say the comparison of the words may be startling, but the deep roots of each slur make them equivalent.

Veta Tucker, a professor at Grand Valley State University’s African-American studies program, said she finds the beer maker’s language offensive. As a black woman, Tucker believes McGehee makes a strong argument using the comparison of insulting words.

“I really think it’s derogatory to use that word toward women and it’s just as demeaning to use the ‘n’ word to black people,” Tucker said.

“They are both deeply offensive. I don’t think it would be appropriate for either to be out there for general consumption.”

The Maryland craft brewery and the state Liquor Control Commission have been at odds since 2009, when the board rejected a request to sell the beermaker’s 20th anniversary Belgian India Pale Ale.

Commissioners denied a sale license, then refused an appeal based on Flying Dog’s use of the term, slang for a female dog.

Officials deemed the label to “promote violence, racism, sexism, intemperance or intoxication to be detrimental to the health, safety or welfare of the general public.”

In an affidavit, Nida Samona, the chairwoman of the state agency, says the board also objects to the label drawing that portrays “women as wild animals that need to be tamed,”

The illustration also has female genitalia exposed, Samona said under oath.

“Over 16,000 locations are licensed for retail sales in Michigan. Children frequent many of these locations and would be exposed to this highly offensive and degrading product name, label and narrative,” Samona said.

The commission said it has drawn a line at the five-letter word and denied other products that incorporated the slur.

The board, however, has registered products such as Founders “Dirty Bastard” beer and a wine with the same profanity.

Flying Dog has admitted the title is edgy, but says it was meant to be humorous and is consistent with its “Gonzo,” image. There was never an intent to offend or to promote the degradation of women, the brewery said.

Brewery officials say their First Amendment rights are being restrained, but the state counters that a commercial communication has a different standard than political free speech.

Flying Dog representatives contend a picture of a dog on the label and the type of “raging” Diablo yeast used in the brewing process justifies the use over the negative connotations to women.

The brewing company has its roots in Colorado and ties to Gonzo-journalist Hunter S. Thompson. The artwork and inscription are from renowned illustrator and writer Ralph Steadman, who partnered with Thompson for “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” and has written for The New York Times and Rolling Stone.

The brewery claims in its lawsuit that its business is being irreparably harmed by the inability to sell the anniversary beer, which is its hottest product in other states.

The state, however, says the court should withhold sales until a decision is reached because it would harm consumers and retailers if sales are permitted, then yanked.

It says the profanity has been used pejoratively since the 1400s and even the veterinary world has moved away from the term because of its offensive nature.

Wooden, a proponent of gender and racial justice, believes the state’s analogy may be imprecise.
“This particular title is deliberately provocative and that, I believe, is in bad taste,” Wooden said. “It’s a deliberate attempt to skirt the pejorative quality of the word.”